Peace Lodge - Reviews - Fraijanes

Peace Lodge is a luxury resort in the middle of the Costa Rican cloud forest, where every detail has been taken care of, and every extravagance has been given to the guests. Each of the deluxe rooms has sixteen foot ceilings, hardwood floors, king size cannopy beds, a gas fire place, and a private balcony with rocking chairs overlooking the jungle.

The extravagance begins with the private spa that comes with each room. On the balcony, a stone jacuzzi with a small waterfall feeding into it is perfectly placed to look out over the jungle cannopy and enjoy the clouds and mist as they roll over the Poas volcano. Inside, a bathroom nearly the size of the room, hosts a private tropical garden lit by skylight with ferns and palms overlooking a second jacuzzi. Behind the jacuzzi a multi-layer decorative waterfall creates a quiet, natural ambiance to the spa area. Around the corner, still inside your own bathroom, is a stone shower where a 12 foot watefall of warm water (temperature controlled by the two little "frogs" on the wall, that you can turn to set the temperature as you desire. A knob allows you to switch from "waterfal" mode to "rain" mode, and water will come down in an utterly relaxing manner as you are surrounded by the sound of water. A second luxurious shower with a hummingbird stained glass window allows you to choose from a European "telephone hose" shower, and a traditional shower.

The room and spa is completed by an aroma-therapy device that pours out the selected tropical smells, surround sound speakers in both the spa and bedroom for the CD player (with CD selection) provided in the room, a TV in case you wanted to watch any of the 200 movies available on DVD, and the plushest, most comfortable pillows and blankets that allow you to cuddle up romantically in front of the fire place after your time in the spa.

Get the picture? This place is amazing. But the most incredible thing, is that I haven't even described the resort! The resort is a popular day-trip destination for foreign tourists staying at other locations, but hotel guests will find that the staff pays special attention to them at all times.

Three and a half kilometers of well-maintained trails lead you through the 70 acres of cloud forest that belong to the resort (the resort backs up into the Poas National Park, so the expanse of jungle is actually much larger.) The main trail leads you along the banks of a raging river that cascades over five beautiful waterfalls (the highest is 120 feet high).

The largest Butterfly Observatory in the world is also at this resort, and you can spend hours watching the dozens of species of butterflies, as they fly around the beautiful plant and flower covered observatory. You can watch every part of their life cycle up close, with private explanations from one of the many butterfly experts that man the on-site laboratory.

An equally large aviary has red macaws and blue macaws (some of which will be happy to sit on your sholder). Several species of toucans are also quite friendly, even as they fly freely through the giant, net-enclosed forest. Different kinds of parrots as well as a variety of other birds can be seen in this enclosure, allowing for a full morning of bird-watching.

One of the most astounding parts of the resort is the hummingbird feeding area. Several different dozen species of hummingbirds make the Peace Lodge area their home, offering astounding variety of colors and sizes. These graceful birds vary from electric blue or purple and white, to different shades of green, red, or orange, depending on their species. There are so many hummingbirds, that they are happy to drink out of hand-held hummingbird feeders provided by the excellent staff. Whether you are relaxing on your balcony, or by one of the three restaurants, the hummingbirds will surround you with beautiful colors.

The resort also boasts a snake colection in its serpentarium, and offers night tours of its ranarium (frog collection). Many species of frogs are noctural, and a night tour of the ranarium allows you to see these beautiful and astounding creatures when they are most active.

You can also visit the small orchid collection and surrounding gardens with a typical Costa Rican house as it was in the 19th century. A final excellent touch is the Trout "Lake" which is a stone swimming pool, with an infinity pool design, that overlooks the rain forest. The "lake" comes complete with trout, and waterfalls that mimick the natural water falls that can be heard just a little distance away.

The resort is near the Poas Volcano and is close to white water rafting locations, canopy tours, and horseback riding. It is a perfect place for a honeymoon, or a second honeymoon, like we had.

You need to book early since it is hard to get a room at the resort. In keeping with its eco-friendly nature, there are only a couple of dozen rooms, allowing the management and staff to provide outstanding service and personal attention to each of the guests staying at the resort.